Al-Yasmine
Community space design for a camp of Syrian refugees in Lebanon
2018
Challenge
To develop ideas and strategies to turn an empty spot of the camp into a social space using the Design Thinking methodology.
How did we structure the process?RESEARCH
Prepare research materials and toolsDay 1: Build EmpathyDay 2: Find insights
SYNTHESIZE
Gather data, stories and personal experiencesDevelop a sense of collective ownershipCluster, Insights, Opportunity fields, HMW
IDEATE & PROTOTYPE
Generate lots of ideasScope, Scope, ScopeChoose a conceptPrototype and test
PITCH
Present to various stakeholders:German embassador in LebanonDAAD and URDA
Research
We designed research tools to address a wide range of target groups. Our aim was to understand user needs, identified potential opportunity fields and get an overview of the living condition of the refugee population at the camp.
What are the research tools about?The tools were designed to collect qualitative information. I participated in actively designing the tool for children between 8 and 11 years old. The tool was called 'Treasure Hunt' and consisted of collecting dierent treasures across the camp.
Every treasure station enabled us to understand how children experience and relate to the camp as a physical space. It helped us to identify places they like and dislike as well as the interaction with the environment around them.
The tool allowed us to overcome the language barrier, build empathy with our users and have a better understanding of their situation.
Field Research
During these two days, we were allowed to experience what is it to live in a refugee camp. We step out of our shoes and walk in the shoes of a refugee. We brought empathy to our project by carefully listening to our users and learning from them and their reality.
Day 01
Our first day was about building connections with the people at the camp. We spent time with the families, drunk tea, ate bread, played with the children and get our first understanding of the actual situation.
Day 02
The second day we were able to scope our investigation and we implemented our research material. We started to collect stories, feelings, and impressions of the users that openly decided to share their situation.
Analysis
Back in Beirut, we lead an intensive Design Thinking workshop in which we analyzed the gathered information. Carefully we clustered and filter a large amount of information while we uncovered valuable insights. This process allowed us to scope our project in four opportunity fields: Education, Social Skills, Identity and Living Space
What insights did we discover?Cluster
We collected a vast amount of information in an analog collaborative platform. Afer every member of the team was able to share its own experience, we started to give a sense of this data by clustering the information.
Insights
Afer defining our clusters we uncovered key insights. These insights allowed us to keep in mind the special details we discovered in our field research.
Opprtunity Fields
We defined opportunity fields based on our skills, time frame, and resources. The definition of these fields, allowed us to create solutions for dierent target groups and needs.
How Might We...
We reframe each insight into a How Might We question. This allowed us to scope and keep in mind the users' needs for the ideation phase.
Results
Our vision was to improve the quality of life for displaced people through building up a sense of belonging and strengthening their esteem needs. We created a space that was divided into three sections: The productive garden, the learning area, and the recreational area. Moreover, we developed an identity and several communication artifacts to activate the space.
